The Guidelines framed by the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, in a case pertaining to Protection Officer in Domestic Violence (DV) cases, are as follows:
- It shall neither be the duty of the Protection Officer nor his/her domain to undertake any mediation/conciliation once a Magistrate is seized of a domestic violence case. The Protection Officer has no mandate to undertake such an exercise.
- A Protection Officer is under a statutory duty to assist the Magistrate in discharge of his functions under the DV Act and to carry out directions/orders passed by such Magistrate under the Act as it is without making his own interpretation therein. In the event, a Protection Officer faces any difficulty in understanding purported spirit of a direction or faces any other difficulty thereto, such Protection Officer shall approach the concerned Magistrate for clarification.
- A nominated Protection Officer shall remain easily accessible to an aggrieved person for any immediate action the aggrieved person may require.
- A nominated Protection Officer need to be guided by imparting necessary training by the Government viz-a-viz the provisions of the Act and its application so that the purpose and objects of the Act are effectively fulfilled and achieved.
- The magistrate should, as far as practicable, ensure the presence of the concerned Protection Officer while passing orders interim orders under the provisions of the Act and make the Protection Officer to understand the nature of the order and the manner in which the same is to be executed. For example, the Protection Officer can get the order for monetary relief under section 20 complied with and executed by the procedure prescribed by CrPC. The Protection Officer should be made to understand his powers for effective implementation of the provisions of the Act as well as orders passed by the magistrate.
HC wants to circulate this order to the concerned
The court also directed the Registry to send a copy of this order to the Mission Director, Integrated Child Development Scheme, Director Social Welfare in the Union Territory of J&K and Ladakh and to get it circulated in all subordinate courts in the Union Territory of J&K and Ladakh.
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